recrudesce verb [ no obj. ] formal:break out again; recur. syphilis, until recently thought to be almost under control, is now recrudescing. DERIVATIVES recrudescence noun recrudescent adjective, ORIGIN late 19th cent.: back-formation from recrudescence‘recurrence’, from Latin recrudescere, ‘become raw again’, from re- ‘again’ + crudus ‘raw’.
I sort of knew this but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded.
endogenous adjective: having an internal cause or origin. the expected rate of infection is endogenous to the system. ( Often contrasted with exogenous.) • Biology growing or originating from within an organism: endogenous gene sequences. • chiefly Psychiatry (of a disease or symptom) not attributable to any external or environmental factor: endogenous depression. • confined within a group or society. DERIVATIVES endogenously adverb
haptic adjective technical: relating to the sense of touch, in particular relating to the perception and manipulation of objects using the senses of touch and proprioception. haptic feedback devices create the illusion of substance and force within the virtual world. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Greek haptikos ‘able to touch or grasp’, from haptein ‘fasten’.
aedile noun (Roman History): either of two (later four) Roman magistrates responsible for public buildings and originally also for the public games and the supply of corn to the city. DERIVATIVES aedileship noun. ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from Latin aedilis ‘concerned with buildings’, from aedes ‘building’.
[I got that one from Mary Beard’s book on Pompeii, which I’m reading right now. There were two of them in Pompeii.]
deke (Ice Hockey) noun: a deceptive movement or feint that induces an opponent to move out of position. verb [ with obj. and adverbial ] draw (a player) out of position by performing a deke. four minutes into the third period, Hull scored his 70th goal of the season, deking a Flyer defenceman to the ice. [ no obj. ] : McRae deked twice and scored. ORIGIN 1960s: shortened form of decoy.
Where would I pick up this? I don’t watch hockey. It’s a lovely word, though. Here's another one I like the sound of:
straggle verb [ no obj., usu. with adverbial of direction] (of an irregular group of people) move along slowly so as to remain some distance behind the person or people in front: the children straggled behind them | (as adj.straggling) : the straggling crowd of refugees. • grow, spread, or be laid out in an irregular, untidy way: her hair was straggling over her eyes. noun:an untidy or irregularly arranged mass or group: a straggle of cottages. DERIVATIVES straggler noun ORIGIN late Middle English: perhaps from dialect strake‘go’.
I use this quite often, Why did I look it up? I like it.
leptin noun [ mass noun ] Biochemistry: a protein produced by fatty tissue which is believed to regulate fat storage in the body. ORIGIN 1990s: from Greek leptos ‘fine, thin’ + -in1.
ghrelin noun: an enzyme produced by stomach lining cells that stimulates appetite.
I keep putting the h in the wrong place. I love the word, though.
horripilation noun [ mass noun ] literary: the erection of hairs on the skin due to cold, fear, or excitement. [ count noun ] : a horripilation of dread tingled down my spine. DERIVATIVES horripilate verb my skin horripilated: ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from late Latin horripilatio(n-), from Latin horrere ‘stand on end’ (see horrid) + pilus ‘hair’.
Think of depilate and it’s easy to remember that one.
polysemy noun [ mass noun ] Linguistics: the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase. DERIVATIVES polysemic | adjective, polysemous adjective. ORIGIN early 20th cent.: from poly-‘many’ + Greek sēma ‘sign’.
I brought up this one a few weeks ago, too. It made me think of entrance and entrance (noun vs verb)– same word, different pronunciation, different meaning. There’s a word for that. I’ll look it up…yes, it’s called a homograph.
And that’s all for today.